Apple Acquires HopStop for its Mass Transit Directions Expertise

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Apple Acquires HopStop for its Mass Transit Directions Expertise

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Looks like Apple has continued to make a push to improve its Maps app, as it has acquired online transit service HopStop, first reported by Bloomberg this afternoon. The New York-based company has an iPhone app which is described as the following:

HopStop is the only transit app you’ll ever need! Get detailed subway, bus, train, taxi, walking and biking directions, real-time transit information via “HopStop Live!”, as well as official transit maps, nearby station search, and station-to-station schedules in over 600 cities throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

In addition, you’ll benefit from our latest feature, HopStop Live!, which lets you see what other HopStop users are saying, in real-time, about the stations, trains, lines and buses you use most. HopStop Live! empowers our community of millions of transit riders to work together towards a common goal to get everyone to where they need to go, faster.

The app works in the following Canadian cities:

Calgary

Edmonton

Halifax

Hamilton

Kitchener-Waterloo

London

Montreal

Ottawa

Quebec City

Saskatoon

Sault Ste. Marie

St. John’s

Thunder Bay

Toronto / Brampton

Vancouver

Victoria

Winnipeg

Apple confirmed the purchase to AllThingsD, but didn’t add anything else as expected:

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said, confirming the acquisition with Cupertino’s standard boilerplate.

It’ll be interesting to see how HopStop will be incorporated into the future version of Maps for iOS and OS X.